CELEBRATING A TAPESTRY OF LIFE

By Juanita Torrence-Thompson

ęCopyright by Juanita Torrence-Thompson

JUANITA TORRENCE-THOMPSON is a poet/writer/speaker whose award-winning
work appears in U.S. and Canadian journals and online. See her poetry
and book information at: Poetry Town.See Barbara Hantman's review of
Torrence-Thompson's CELEBRATING A TAPESTRY OF LIFE (Torderwarz Publishing
Company)at:The Pedestal Magazine

SCHOOL - CIRCA 21st CENTURY

School for her used to be
a place to learn about the world and its people
a refuge from home's humdrum mediocrity
a place to interact with friends
and discuss subjects from the obscure, the significant
to the ridiculous or sublime

School for her was a safe haven,
a place far from the mean streets,
far from family spats,
foreign wars, aching poverty
School for her was a place
where sometimes her friends
disagreed with her, but the next day
they were all smiles and all was forgiven

As she undresses for bed,
and slips into her pink baby dolls,
she wonders, after recent violence,
if tomorrow she'll fabricate
a headache, a toothache, or a backache
so her parents won't send her to school.